Experiment 1413
by Lupanaridae
Summary: The flock discovers that their not alone. There is another human/avian hybrid, whom they must find and train to help save the world. Fax is included in this.
1. Another HumanAvian?

**My first real fanfic! I'll try to post a new chapter everyday, so keep checking back!**

**A/N - I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters except the "experiment", which you will read about. Well, I guess I own it, because I created it, but nothing else right now. Oh, I also own the plot and storyline. But only from this story! Sheesh, all I'm trying to do is make sure I'm not copywriting anything. **

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"MAX, CAN WE please take a break? My wings are killing me." I rolled my eyes at Total. I glanced at the rest of my flock. Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel were trying to look strong, but I could tell they were exhausted. Iggy and Fang could fly for another hour or two, but I knew better than to push the younger ones.

I glanced at Fang for his opinion. He gave a look that told me it didn't matter to him.

"Sure, I guess we could stop." I replied. Fang's dark eyes frowned as Total flew over to him so that he wouldn't have to fly anymore. I found it funny that Fang always gets stuck with Total when his wings give out on him. After all, Fang was one hundred percent against having a dog.

"I could eat about ten pounds of food, though." Said Iggy. I scanned the ground and found a wooded forest not far from a town. Fang must have seen it too, for he started towards it. It was amazing how much we think alike sometimes. But I still loved it.

_Its no wonder you two are so crazy about each other._ The Voice said. Yup, that annoying voice besides my own is still there. Wanna know how it got there?

So do I.

_Well, well, well, the prodigal son returns. _I thought. I was pretty sure the Voice was chuckling to itself. _And would you mind not butting into my private life for once? They call them 'private thoughts' for a reason. _I'm so good I scare myself sometimes. Not really, but you get the point.

_Max, you need to read those papers you just stole from that latest Itex building._ I had started swooping downward when the voice started. I was now watching the rest of the flock get dinner together. A very organized task.

_And the reason for that would be? _The voice was so incredibly vague that I was about to go insane. Which, of course, is perfectly logical since I have a voice stuck in my head telling me what to do. Not crazy at all.

_Max, your next assignment is to locate Experiment 14-13. There is more information in those papers you stole. When you find Experiment 14-13, A.K.A Crystal, you and the flock need to train her and keep her in your sights. Then you will receive further instructions. _

Talk about going all fortune cookie. What the heck was the Voice talking about Experiment 14-13? I'd ask Fang later. I looked around at my flock. Total had collapsed in a heap not far from where Fang put him down. Speaking of Fang, I didn't see him anywhere.

"Where's Fang?" I asked almost freaking out. Not that I was too worried or anything.

"He went to go get some food." Replied Gazzy, who seamed rather happy and smiley right now. He and Angel were gathering up sticks to make a fire. Iggy was listening to whatever he could hear, like he always does.

"What did the voice have to say?" Asked Angel. I smiled. Sometimes a mind-reader could be fun. Angel was no exception. She would always be my favorite (next to Fang, of course). I waited to make sure Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy were paying attention.

"It says we need to look at those papers we stole and find an Experiment 14-13." Angel and Nudge both got really excited at that. And when Nudge gets excited, look out. Here comes the constant chatter.

"I wonder if the experiment is like us! You know, with wings and stuff!" Nudge was getting excited by her own thoughts. I ruffled her hair.

"I don't know, Nudge." I got this sudden feeling that someone was behind me, which really freaks me out.

Then just as arms reached around to grab me I faked to the left, grab its arm, and flung it into the nearest tree. I heard a muffled groan as Fang slowly stood up trying to regain the breathe I knocked out of him. I smirked as I said, "Well that's what you get for sneaking up on me. Did you get anything useful while you were out or did you decide to practice your disappearing act instead?" He gave me one of those looks that sends my heart racing. The same way it always does when I'm near him.

You know that feeling were your heart wants to ripe out of your chest in fear but your so happy that you want to stay so you feel like your body is about to be ripped to incredibly tiny bits? No? Well that's what it felt like. And I loved every minute of it.

Later that night while the rest were sleeping I felt a light tap on my shoulder. Instantly I knew it was Fang. I felt my heart jump a little at his presence.

"Want to get out of here for a little while?" Instead of responding I took off in flight. Just before I was off the ground, I heard Iggy mutter 'oh brother' and Gasman pretending to gag. Nudge was laughing to herself, and Angel told me she was smiling. I guess they weren't really sleeping after all. I'm going to have to remember to kick their butts later.

When we finally got out of sight we slowed down and faced each other beating our wings at the same rate. I loved the feel of him close. To have him so near to me was scary and exhilarating at the same time. After a quick, sweet kiss, Fang said, "So what's the deal with this experiment?" I shook myself back to reality.

"I'm not sure. Lets stop somewhere." We found a tree branch wide enough for both of us. I pulled out the papers and scanned them over, basically looking for key words to help explain some things.

"Experiment 14-13, Crystal, Oklahoma," Fang read aloud. As he kept on reading, it became more clear that this latest 'assignment' of mine was dealing with a human/avian hybrid.

And this experiment wasn't the only one listed.


	2. Meet Cyrstal

IF CRYSTAL DIDN'T HAVE all that pepperoni and black olive pizza the night before, she would have questioned her sanity. Especially since what she was staring at in the mirror were a pair of huge... she guessed wings.

As far as she could tell, today was pretty ordinary. Nothing exciting except the halfway mark of school. After getting out of the shower and putting her clothes on, Crystal noticed these large wing-like objects on her back. What's even stranger? She hadn't noticed it before, but her shirt had two slits in the back for them. So this tells you that she was wrong about the whole 'ordinary day' thing, right?

You would be correct.

Seeing them, she unintentionally opened her mouth and let out a squeal. That was the wrong thing to do.

"Are you okay in there?" Crystal's mom shouted from the kitchen. She always asks that when she does something like that.

"I'm fine, no problem. Just that there's a spider in the sink." That was at least true. It was about the size of her thumb, but she washed it down the drain.

"Are you sure?" She asked again. Crystal sighed. Sometimes parents can be sooo... anyway, back to the story.

"Yes, mom, I'm fine." She took another long look at the strange wing-resembling objects on her back. They were just a short distance below her shoulders, and really long. They must have a twelve foot wingspan. They were pure white with some black at the tips. Kind of like a gulls wings, if she remembered correctly.

_I must be dreaming_, she told myself. _Yeah, that's it. I'm dreaming. All I have to do is wake myself up. _Crystal pinched herself several times with no change. Then she splashed cold water on her face.

The wings were still there.

Several things were floating through her head.

1) Was I able to fly?

2) Why did I have wings?

3) How could I keep people at school from seeing them?

The third one was the easiest to answer. She found that she could tuck them in against her back, which helped a little in the discretion department. Crystal decided to wait a while on the flying until she was absolutely sure someone wasn't playing tricks on her. As for how they got there, she hadn't a clue.

**A.N. - This chapter was actually inspired by an English paper I wrote way before I read Maximum Ride! Scary, uh?**


	3. Crystal part 2

AS CRYSTAL GOT ON the school bus, she was completely nervous about anyone discovering her 'wings'. She sat down in front of a brunette named Nicole. She was usually an airhead, but she was better than most others Crystal could have been stuck with.

"Hey, what's up girl?" She asked politely, but in her girly-girl voice. Crystal hated that. She didn't mind when someone's doing it on purpose, but she talks like that all the time.

"Uh, nothing too exciting." Crystal knew she was so lying. But what was she supposed to do, she reasoned. Just blurt out that she had wings?

She didn't think so.

"Hey, Nicole," Crystal began, "have you had anything..... strange and unusual happen to you lately?" Nicole just looked puzzled.

"Like, what? What on Earth are you, like, talking about?" Crystal took a deep breath. She should have know better than to ask a deep, serious question to an air headed, girly-girl cheerleader like Nicole.

"Oh, I don't know, just something... unnatural. Like really, really freaky." Nicole thought for a moment.

"Unless my Chihuahua falling head over paws with a poodle is freaky, then no. OMG, did you hear about what happened to Josh at the movies yesterday? He, like, so totally got dumped!"

This was going to be a LONG bus ride.


	4. Trouble at School

CRYSTAL'S EARS WERE full of gossip from Nicole, so she didn't really get to talk to anyone as she made her way to the high school. She was just about to go to class when she remembered something. She had forgotten to check her favorite blog site. She raced into the computer lab and logged in. She quickly pulled up the page and started reading.

**You are reading Fang' Blog. Welcome!**

**Today's date: **Already Too Late!

**You are visitor number: **6,397,311,900

**What's Up People of Earth?**

Okay, I know that title's really cheesy and all, but I couldn't think of anything else, okay?

I'm sure you've all been wondering what the Flock and I have been up to in the past couple days. Well, since we busted Itex (again), we haven't really been doing that much. Max was told from her voice to look over some of the information we stole, which is pretty interesting.

It talks about an Experiment 14-13, who we think is another human/avian like us. Then Max's voice says we're supposed to find him/her. I'll be somewhere in the southern states if anyone needs me. Now I can't really tell you, but you already knew that.

-- Fang

Crystal just loved reading Fang's blog. She loved how passionate they all were about saving the planet and all. She was about to post something about her having wings when a voice spoke from behind her.

"Excuse me, are you Crystal?" A little boy asked. He looked to be around eight or nine years old. He had the cutest blond hair and blue eyes she had ever seen.

"Yes, I am," She began, "what do you need?" The boy shifted on his feet and thought a moment.

"Uh... you have a visitor in the office. She said that she has something important to tell you. Something about life or death." Crystal didn't think that it was really life or death, but she still followed the boy to the office. Waiting there for her were Flyboys, but Crystal didn't notice until one of them grabbed her arm.

She tried to scream for help, but nothing came out. All she could do was watch the eight year old boy turn angry and start taking them out. Before she knew it, six more Flyboys appeared out of nowhere and started going after him. Then a girl with brownish-blond hair leaped out from behind the counter. Alongside her was a boy with dark hair that was really long.

The two of them started helping the boy, who pointed to her. Crystal could have sworn she had seen these kids somewhere before, but she couldn't figure it out. Suddenly another three kids, a tall, skinny boy and two girls, came out from behind the counter, same as the other three. After what seamed like a lifetime, all the robot Flyboys were destroyed. The kids definitely had skills. They couldn't have done that if they were normal kids. The older girl grabbed her hand.

"Are you Crystal? Crystal Fanon?" She nodded her head. The girl turned to the others and nodded.

"We found her. She's the one."


	5. Crystal meets Max

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'm the one?" Crystal asked. She was currently being dragged by me across the school grounds, the others following. "And who are you guys? Who or what were those robot thingies-"

"Can we please continue this conversation in a moment?" I nearly shouted. I must have gotten through to her because she stopped talking. We ran until the school was no longer in sight. A good thing, too. I hated being in there. I've had too many bad experiences with schools to ever trust one again. Especially when I saw Fang kissing that redhead. Okay, subject change NOW.

I had told Total to stay behind for a while, which he reluctantly obeyed. He was now running alongside us. His mouth may have been shut, but we all knew that it wouldn't stay that way for much longer.

When we finally stopped, I took in her appearance. A plain T-shirt and jeans, blonde hair about shoulder length and slightly wavy. Her eyes were a cross between hazel and brown. Not totally unfortunate looking like the rest of us.

Crystal decided it was okay to ask some more questions. Just like I thought she would. I braced myself for what was sure to come.

"Just what are you doing here?" I took a deep breath and chose my words carefully. This was not going to be easy for her.

"First things first," I began, "my name is Max. Maximum Ride. This is my family, who I call my flock, for reasons you will soon find out. This is Fang, Iggy, who's blind, Nudge, Gasman, who we call Gazzy, and Angel." Total cleared his throat. "And this is Total." I let her take that in. She had a look of astonishment and confusion imprinted on her face. I was hoping that it wasn't from Total.

"Fang, do you have a blog?" Well, that wasn't random at all. Perfectly normal when you first meet someone to ask if they have a blog.

"Yeah," Fang replied. She now looked almost petrified. I almost felt sorry for her. Well, actually, I did feel sorry for her.

"So, you guys are the 'bird kids'? The ones who revealed Itex and were in Hawaii to help with global warming?"

Man, this girl really knew her stuff.

"Yes, and that's kind of why we're here." I started again, "We stole some files from Itex and they talk about you in them." Yup, the best way to unveil something was just to flat out say it. No beating around the bush, just say it and get it over with.

"I was?" Man, didn't this girl realize she has wings?! I mean, come on! How discreet can you be when you have wings?

"You do have wings like us, don't you?" She hesitated a moment, then pulled off her sweatshirt, revealing her wings. She stretched them out to their full length. I for one was relieved that we had the right person.

"Let me tell you what we know. You are Experiment 14-13, A.K.A Crystal Fanon. This first number, 14, just states the experiment. The second is your age. You were genetically engineered like us to be 98% human, 2% bird. The reason you just know this now is because the school, as I'm sure you know about, only received you a few weeks ago. You may think that your life is perfectly normal, but its not.

"Everything you know, is changing. Your parents have been replaced with Flyboys 2.0 to watch you. Any day now they would have captured you and done... horrible things to you. Like they did to us. The reason Iggy's blind is because of what the whitecoats did to him."

I could tell that Crystal was trying to stay calm, but inside she was utterly horrified. I paused a moment and looked at my flock. They were anxious to get moving, but there was more to be said. But not by me. I motioned for Angel to say something.

"Crystal, we've come to find you in order to help you." She spoke in her angelic voice that could make an army fall to its knees in awe. Crystal just stood there shaking. I can't say that I felt her pain seeing how it wasn't till recently that I met my mother and I've always known what I was, but I understood her terror. You'd get it if you'd read my other books, so if you haven't you might want to go back and read those first. Just FYI.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" She was on the brink of crying, but trying extremely hard not to. I normally wouldn't do this, but decided it was best to try to be her friend. I mean, I basically told her that her parents are gone, and that everything she knows is wrong! The least I can do is be nice to her.

"You can hang with us. We'll teach you how to survive. We'll teach you how to fly, how to fight, and how to find the world's best chocolate chip cookie." She smiled a bit at the cookie remark. I took a few steps closer. "We'll teach you to be one of us and love every minute of it." Crystal wiped her eyes, which were now getting teary. She stepped forward and hugged me. I may have decided to be her friend, but I wasn't quite ready for that, so I broke it short.

"We should probably get moving. We don't want to be around for round two." The flock took off in one spectacular movement. I then realized that Crystal didn't know how to fly. I tapped Fang on the shoulder and turned around. Cyrstal seamed relieved that we came back. I motioned her over to me.

"First, you get a running start, stretch your wings out so they catch the wind, leap up, and flap. Its really not that difficult."

Fang and I watched anxiously as Crystal did exactly as we told her. She was just about to take to the sky when I realized something kind of important.

She didn't wait for me to tell her how to land.


	6. Flying

I shot a glance at Fang, who quickly picked up the vibe. The two of us flew into the air after Crystal. We grabbed her arms, not keeping her whole weight, but enough to keep her from falling. I noticed the rest of the flock still in the air, hovering around waiting for us to come back.

"You want to learn how to land or do you plan on a spontaneous fall from the sky?" I had no hint of sarcasm in my voice. Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds like I was, but I was 100% serious. Crystal looked from me to Fang, and just sighed as we brought her safely to the ground.

"Well you didn't tell me to wait, so I figured that meant just go for it." I counted to ten, trying to keep my cool.

"Now, if you'll let me finish, to land, you put your feet out in front of you and stop flapping your wings. You still have to flap them to keep your balance, but you get my point." I was getting frustrated, so I turned to Fang and gave him a look that said watch her like a hawk. And yes, I do get the humor in that. You don't have to point it out. I got a running start and soon I was high above the trees and whatever else we could find. I was barely gone two minutes when Fang came up to me. I also noticed the Crystal wasn't far behind us.

"You know, I really don't find her that annoying." He began. I would have suspected that he liked her, but I had learned from past experiences that that wasn't the case. We were flying ahead of the rest of the flock.

"Oh, really?" I asked, acting like I didn't know what he meant. Fang just smirked at his next words.

"Actually, she reminds me a lot of you." He then smiled, which send my heart racing. "That's no need for you to be jealous, though. " He added. "You'll always be my girl." I wanted to scream I was so elated. He then flew a little closer so he could put his hand around me. If it wasn't so delightful it would have been downright scary flying so close.

He then brought his whole body closer and kissed me. We kissed for a long time, keeping the rest of the flock in our peripheral vision.

Since the majority of people reading this aren't human avian hybrids, then you don't know what its like to fly and kiss at the same time. Well, you can imagine kissing, so imagine kissing the love of your life and multiply the feeling by twenty. That doesn't come anywhere close to how I was feeling kissing Fang. He broke it short, to my dismay. But I know we had to cover some ground before nightfall.


	7. Iggy and Crystal Talk

OKAY, SO WE didn't get as far as I would have liked, but with Crystal and the fact that she had never flown before, I decided to stop early. We settled when we found another abandoned cabin, much like the one we stayed in when Angel was kidnapped. The only differences were that this cabin didn't have a high-tech security system, and had been abandoned for quite some time.

"Great, more canned ravioli, my favorite." Complained Gazzy. I didn't say it, but I was agreeing with him.

"I'm gonna head to town." Said Fang, "Be back soon." Before any of us could object, Fang was out the door and halfway to town. All of us had crashed on a piece of furniture. Girls occupied the sofa, which was kind of shaped like the letter L and sat in a corner. and both Iggy and Gazzy had taken the other seats. Fang had been sitting on the sofa next to me, but now Total occupied it.

"For the record I like ravioli." Total said trotting over to Angel. I rolled my eyes. I glanced over at Crystal, who hadn't said much since we left Oklahoma. She heard Total's remark, and was now wide eyed.

"Um, yeah, Total can talk. And he has wings." I said matter-of-factly. She recovered her shock slightly. "Hey, why don't we figure out who gets the bedrooms?" I asked them. The question was directed mostly to the younger ones, since the three oldest - well, four oldest now - didn't really care where we slept.

"Yeah! I call the one with two beds because I need the extra bed for my-" Nudge actually stopped talking, since she obviously couldn't come up with a convincing argument.

"We'll see, Nudge. You may have to share with Angel or someone." I took Nudge, Gazzy and Angel, leaving Iggy and Crystal behind.

"How come you've been so quite?" Iggy asked Crystal. She looked surprised. How does he do that?

"How did you know I was still here? You're blind." Iggy looked taken back. Crystal just sighed. "I'm sorry, that wasn't what I meant. I guess I'm just exhausted from all the... drama today."

"I don't blame you." Iggy replied. He proceeded to stand up and sit next to her."I could hear you breathing, to answer your question."

"Wow, I never would have guessed that." She paused, looking for the right words. Before she could find them, Iggy started talking again.

"If you don't mind me asking, how come your so quite? Max read your file to me, and it said that you're very outgoing, always friendly to people. Where's that girl?" Although Iggy couldn't see her, he could hear her sniffling, and holding back tears.

"That was me, until I found out about my parents." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I really appreciate you guys for taking me in like this, but honestly, I don't think I'm cut out for this sort of thing. I mean, how do you cope with all this? It must be even harder since you can't see."

"Actually, I never get used to it. None of us do. We just act like it for Nudge, Angel and Gazzy, and each other. They need a role model. Someone to tell them its gonna be okay. Tell them that we will find their parents when, really, all we find are dead ends. For me, I sometimes wish I never knew who my parents are. But it gives me closure, I guess. You see, my folks wanted to turn me into a sideshow freak because of my wings."

"That's terrible." Said Crystal. And she had thought her troubles were bad. At least... well, maybe her troubles were worse. Maybe Iggy was just trying to make her feel better.

"But none of that mattered because I had my flock. We're a family, Crystal. We want you to be part of it, too." Crystal couldn't hold back tears anymore. She broke down and started crying, right there in front of Iggy. He held out his arms for a hug, and she, to his surprise, took it. As she was crying on his shoulder, he could feel her body shivering. How her hands were soft against his back. They stayed like that for a long time. When she finally stopped crying, she pulled away and smiled.

"I'm actually smiling, Iggy. Thanks, I really needed that." Iggy smiled back to. Just then Fang walked through the door holding a bag filled with hamburgers and French fries. He noticed Iggy and Crystal but started talking anyway.

"Hope you like burgers, 'cause it was either that or Kentucky fried chicken, and I know none of us will eat anything like that." Iggy immediately burst out laughing, leaving Crystal wondering why.

"What's so funny about that?" She asked, then her face lit up, and she, too, started laughing. "Oh, I get it now!"

"Could you be any slower? Must be a blonde thing..." Crystal stopped laughing and glared at Fang before sticking her tongue out at him. "Hey, why don't you go get Max and the others, Blondie?" She aimed to kick at him and missed, but left the room anyway. He waited to make sure she was gone, then turned to Iggy. "So, how'd it go, Ig?" Iggy just smiled.

"A long hug and a smile, all in one day." He seamed proud of himself. Fang just sighed.

"Well that's not exactly what I meant, but good for you anyway. How did the speech go? Did she like it?"

"I didn't use your speech exactly, I had to change it. I'll tell you about it later. I think its working, though."

"Awesome. Keep it up, Ig." As Fang finished, Max and the others walked into the room. Max looked like she was going to die laughing.

"Real funny, Fang. But seriously, I hope you got something to eat."


	8. Chain Reaction

THE NEXT MORNING consisted of just getting the heck out of there. Why do you ask? Because at six in the morning, an unusual chain reaction took place. Let me try and explain it.

Total stretched himself, which resulted in his claws poking Crystal, which made her jump in her sleep, scaring Nudge so that she took a few steps backwards so she bumped the table, causing it to fall over. Then the backpack, which had been on the table, and just happened to contain Iggy's world famous bombs flew into the kitchen, where the mastermind of bombs himself was cooking his world famous dippy eggs (By the looks of things, you'd think this guy IS world famous). The backpack landed on his foot, causing Iggy to "accidentally" throw his hot frying pan into the air which landed in the bag of bombs (not on it, in it). The heat from the frying pan being on the stove caused the fuse to ignite on one of the bombs, resulting in Iggy screaming for everyone to get out of the house if they wanted to live.

So yeah, that's pretty much it. So as soon as we had enough clearance, we all did an up and away. No sooner had we done so did the cabin turn into a flaming fireball, complete with flying pieces of wood and furniture.

"Whoa, dude!" Gazzy remarked, "I wish you could see this, Iggy." Gazzy's mouth was wide open, in awe of their greatest explosion yet.

"I don't need to see it, I can hear it!" A delighted Iggy said. I had to force myself to count to ten and resist the urge to kill the both of them right then and there.

"Absolutely no more bombs." I managed to say. As we flew towards someplace with breakfast, I glared at Total.

"For the record," he started, "I was out cold. It was an involuntary impulse, so I'm innocent."

Your gonna get innocent, I though bitterly. Total must have noticed my facial expression, for he quickly hid behind Angel.

_Don't be so hard on him. It wasn't totally his fault. _Great, the voice was trying to save Total now. Just great.

_Why are you defending a talking, mutant mutt that happens to have wings and can fly? _I thought back.

_Why am I giving advice to a 14-year-old bird kid, aka human avian, who's supposed to save the world?_

I_ ask myself that question everyday of my puny existence._ Lets see the voice top that one for a change.

_Aspen, Colorado is where your headed. There's a ski resort there. That's where your next assignment is._

_Wait a sec. What about the other human avian hybrids mentioned in those papers?_ I just had to know. The voice sighed, probably out of frustration.

_Crystal is your main priority. Not the she's more important than Colorado, or the other experiments. Just keep her away from the Erasers and out of trouble. I'm sure you could handle that, Maximum Ride._

I shook my head. When I finally save the world and destroy all the Erasers and Flyboys, I'm gonna need some serious therapy.

"Hey guys, I know where we're going next." Fang looked at me curiously. So did Crystal and Angel.

"Where's that?" Fang asked.

"Colorado,"


	9. Welcome To Colorado

WE ARIVED IN ASPEN around five, with not many pit stops. The resort itself was huge, and the slopes even larger. They had a few of those ski lifts to take you to the top of the hill, but hey, you don't need them when you have wings!

The eight of us (don't forget about Total and now Crystal) landed with slight difficulty on the icy ground, except for Crystal. Rather she crash landed face first into the ice and snow. Before I could do anything, Iggy had already flown over to where she crashed and helped her up. That was kind of strange. I'd worry about that later.

"Can we go skiing, Max? That looks like so much fun!" Nudge begged me as we started walking into the lobby of the obviously expensive hotel.

"Nudge, this place looks like a lot of money." I tried. I was too preoccupied about the information the voice had giving me a few hours ago.

The avalanche rescue team and the scientists here had called Dr. Martinez and Jeb asking for our assistance. Jeb had promised to help, which bothered me because he didn't even ask us if we were okay with that. He usually did, but not this time. Of course he had been a little different every since he told me that he really was my father and that Dr. Martinez was my mom. So anyway, I get a phone call while we were at the restaurant from Jeb saying he would meet us in Colorado with the reservations. The crazy thing about all this?

1) The Voice told us to eat at that particular restaurant

2) The phone Jeb called from was the payphone right outside the building.

3) Jeb wasn't the Voice.

So as you can see, this was pretty really freaking me out. I was still trying to tie up all these bits of information when a familiar face came up to us.

"Hi, Max! Did you guys check in yet? This place is awesome!" Ella was running up to us, Jeb and my mom not far behind.

"We were about to before you bear hugged me." I said with a smile. Ella went to hug Fang, but he merely stepped back and settled for a handshake. He refused to hug anyone, not even my mom. The only person he will hug is... you guessed it. Me. How awesome is that? Anyway, back on track now.

"How are you doing, Max?" Jeb asked, his face hard to read. To me it looked like he was hoping I'd react all warmly to him and all that other nonsense. And that wasn't gonna happen. Nope, not in a million years.

"Fine." That was all I said. One word that made him crazy inside. Ella and Dr. Martinez finished greeting everyone. I noticed that both looked curiously at Crystal.

"Max, who's this girl hanging out with you guys?" I walked over to where the two of them were standing.

"Um, Ella, Jeb, mom, this is Crystal. She's... like us. Crystal, this is my half sister Ella, and my mom Dr. Martinez. And my father Jeb." Ella and my mom both walked up and said hello. Jeb, on the other hand, stayed silent.

"Jeb, aren't you going to say hello?" Dr. Martinez asked. Jeb shook himself back to reality.

"Oh, yes, nice to meet you, Crystal." He shook her hand and then declared, "I need to go make a quick phone call. Be right back." I've never seen Jeb move so fast.

"Oh, Nudge, look at all the fish!" Angel rushed over to a large fish tank filled with all kinds of saltwater fish. You know, like clownfish, and a few that looked like the fish from the movie Finding Nemo. Nudge, Gazzy and Fang weren't far behind.

"So how did you come to find Max and the flock?" Dr. Martinez asked Crystal. She paused a moment, wondering what to say.

"Oh, the Voice I have told me to find her." I spoke up. "There was something about her in those Itex papers we stole." That was actually truth, for once. My mom just nodded and looked like she had something else to say.

"Your father set up a conference with the scientists and the avalanche team. You need to be there in a few minutes." I rolled my eyes because I was getting tired of conferences. "Well, I'll let you guys wonder around and get your bearings. Ella and I will check in for you and give you the room keys after the conference." She then gave me a quick hug. I hadn't gotten a hug from her in a while. As she and Ella walked away, I turned in the direction of the fish tank. When she thought I was out of earshot, I heard Crystal whisper something to Iggy.

"Her voice?" She asked him. Iggy just shrugged his shoulders and began to explain things to her.

"Yeah, she says she has this Voice in her head that tells her what to do. Between you and me, I doubt she has one at all." Okay, now I had to set him straight. I turned around and glared at them. Well, one of them, but you get the point.

"Look, Sexist Pig, you try living in my shoes once and see if you don't hear a Voice in your head." That being said I turned to walk away.

"There's no way I could live in your shoes, Max. They always stink!" I ignored him and walked away. I could hear Crystal trying not to laugh but ended up laughing anyway.

"Sexist Pig?" She managed to say between fits of laughter. Iggy shrugged his shoulders again.

"That's the nickname Max gave me." Crystal was still laughing. "Your laugh is really cute." He told her, although I wasn't sure if it was real or not. I glanced behind me, and saw Crystal blush from embarrassment, but smiling nonetheless. Okay, that was strange. Iggy and her? No, he was just being friendly. Or did he like her? I continued walking and stopped next to Fang.

"Hey, did you see that back there?" I asked him. Fang shook his head, but keep his eyes on one of the fish.

"You didn't see what just happened with Iggy and Crystal?" At the mention of their names Fang turned to look at me, his eyebrows raised.

"What happened?" I proceeded to tell him about Iggy mocking my voice, to me calling him a sexist pig, to Iggy saying she had a cute laugh. At that point, Fang just smiled. Not a smile at me, but just smiled at the thought. "Yeah, Iggy thinks he's in love." My jaw literally dropped open. Iggy in love?

"You can't be serious, Fang. How can he love a girl he can't even see?" Fang just turned back to the fish.

"I guess if you can't see someone, you base your picture of them from what they do, say, and things like that that we sometimes take for granted. Not on looks, smile, or the kind of clothes they wear." His gaze now focused on me. "Although those things may help you along, they don't let a guy see who that girl really is." My heart started beating faster as he took a step closer.

"Like I do with you." He put his hand behind my neck and kissed me. And you know what? I kissed him back, too. I had closed my eyes when he kissed me, and opened them as we broke apart. I don't know why, but right there I hugged him. In front of everybody. I closed my eyes again, but opened them to see Angel smiling... well, angelically, and giving me a thumbs up.


	10. The Meeting

I SOON REALIZED that we had a conference to go to, so I filled everyone in, and hustled them to the right room. Even Total wanted to tag along. It was a conference room, all right. But it looked as if it was only used by the hotel staff for their meetings. I guess the scientists had to do some bribing. As we walked in there were tons of chairs set up. We decided to take up the entire first row, because, that's the way we roll.

I know, stupid and totally unoriginal, but not important.

There were only five scientists standing there. Two of them were women, and three were men. For a split second I was worried that Fang was going to go crazy over one of the girls just like in Antarctica. But just as I was thinking it Fang squeezed my hand as if to say, don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything stupid. He knew me way too well.

I could tell they were anxious to get started, and I wanted to make it known that we were, too.

"Okay, guys, you brought us here. Now go ahead and give your little presentation so we can all get back to our lives. Because I can guarantee you that we could all be doing more important things right now." They all glanced at each other for a moment, then one of the men stepped forward.

"Actually, Max, there's absolutely nothing more important for me to be doing right now. Nothing." The tone of his voice was so serious that I was actually regretting speaking up. "My name is James Kendall. To my coworkers I'm known as Kendall. I want to make it perfectly clear that you are not to call me James." This guy was a lunatic, but I sent a message to Angel telling her to tell the rest of the flock not to push this guy's buttons. No need to cause trouble. Yet.

"Since none of you know why your here, I'll let my mentor Professor Pots fill you in." Kendall started towards the doors while his mentor took his place.. The guy was about as old as Jeb, but already had a mustache that was graying.

"You'll have to excuse my student. He's a little upset that we delayed his skiing day. You six-" He stopped short, noticing an extra in the group. "Who are you, young lady?" Crystal looked slightly scared.

"Crystal. I'm... with them. And yes, I'm... like them, too" Nice answer. Must have been scared silly. Professor Pots turned on a PowerPoint presentation thing that looked more like it was going to be videos.

"You are all here because of the death of several people. Some being family of myself and my fellow scientists." I noticed the solemn look on a few of their faces. "In the past two weeks, we've had over ten avalanches on the north slope. Usually high winds, earth tremors, and other factors are the cause for avalanches. There hadn't been any wind here since the avalanches started, nor any tremors." He paused as we watched the video on the wall. It showed people getting buried by the huge mass of tumbling snow. It really was scary.

"We'd like you all to help us in determining the cause of these avalanches. I personally think its global warming, but the others have different theories. I've read that you've been to Antarctica to study global warming, so I assume your familiar with it?" We all nodded in agreement.

"Then, Maximum Ride, will you help us?" I turned towards my flock of six - well, Total makes seven - and every one of them nodded. Well, Crystal looked skeptical, but she'd get over that.

"As long as we all get some time to rest up, then yes." Relief flooded that man's face when I finished.

"Thank you, Max. And all of you." He smiled brightly. "You will have the rest of the day to yourselves. Although I must point out that I will not let the three youngest ones assist you when on the slope itself. Its just too dangerous for them.

"Look, Mr. Pots," I started, feeling my anger rise up, "they're gonna be fine. They have just as much experience as the rest of us." I paused, remembering Crystal. "But I will be nice, for once, and think about your proposal." I made the mistake of glancing at my flock. Nudge, Gazzy and Angel had looks that ranged from shock to heartbrokenness. Fang just looked confused. I turned away and looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost six, and we hadn't eaten dinner yet.

"Now, if you don't mind, we've had a long day, and we'd like to grab something to eat. We can continue this thing tomorrow." I started towards the door, my flock following me. Mr. Pots said something, but I didn't hear what he said. We were soon standing back in the main lobby, where my mom and Ella were waiting for us.

"Here are your room keys." She told us. "Your room all connect to each other, so you can get from one room to another easily. We're just across the hall from you guys if you need anything." She hugged me one last time before we all headed towards the elevator. I knew we'd have to discuss keeping Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy off the slopes. There was no way I was getting out of it.


	11. Should They Stay or Should They Go?

I LOOKED AT THE cards to get into the room. The numbers were 345 and 346. We quickly found the rooms and I put the card marked 345 into the door. This was going to be the girls room, but the guys followed anyway, because they wanted to be part of the discussion that was to follow. Everyone was silent as we walked in, the only sounds being the shuffling of feet. They all took a seat on the bed while I went to close the door. No sooner had it clicked shut did Gazzy start it.

"Its not fair! I help make bombs that take out the Erasers!" I gave him the evil eye, and he realized his mistake.

"As much as they do help take out the Erasers and Flyboys," I said, trying to keep from screaming at the memory of the cabin, "bombs are dangerous, and I don't think they'll help any in a place that already has a high risk for avalanches."

"But Angel and I are good fighters!" Said Nudge, "We would totally kick their butts and be like, a major help to you and Iggy and Fang!" That was another thing. She didn't mention Crystal.

"I need to think about this." I turned and walked through the door leading to room 346, since they were connected. I started pacing back and forth, trying to figure things out. Fang walked in a few seconds after I did. Just as I had hoped he would.

"What's on your mind?" He asked. I stopped pacing and sat on one of the beds. Fang sat next to me.

"I'm mostly worried about Crystal." I started. "She's inexperienced, and doesn't know how to deal with Erasers. She doesn't know our fighting style, and I don't know if the whitecoats gave her fighting skills or not. I don't know how much like us she really is." Fang put his arm around me comfortingly.

"Do you remember anything from those papers?" He asked. I pulled them from my pocket. They were now a crinkled mess. I scanned through them, looking for anything having to do with fighting. I couldn't find anything.

"Well, this sucks." I groaned. Fang just leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I loved having him as my boyfriend.

"You should get some sleep and check again in the morning. Daylight, rested brain, plus breakfast." Since we both agreed, we headed back to where the others were. Nudge and Angel looked anxious. Before I could say we're gonna continue this tomorrow, there was a knock on the door. It was Jeb, with five boxes of pizza. Just for us.

Well, we ended up inhaling the first three boxes in about five minutes. For the last two we took our time. As we ate we let our wings out, which felt good after keeping them in for that meeting.

"I can't remember the last I'm I ate over five pieces of pizza." Remarked Crystal. Our stomachs were completely full for once, which was a rare thing. Iggy had seated himself on the bed with Crystal on one side, and Nudge and Angel on the other. Fang, Gazzy and I were on the other bed, holding the pizza box with the last slices of pepperoni.

"Don't get used to it." I told her, "Sometimes when I'm assigned to one of my saving the world things we can't always grab a good meal." Crystal looked thoughtful.

"I still can't get the image out of my head. From my school, when you guys were fighting like that. I just can't believe it." She glanced up at me. "Was that something you were... implanted with or did someone teach it to you?"

"We were taught by Jeb, but some of it we already had. We just needed to know how to use it. But we also have recombinant DNA, which means we heal really fast. I don't know much about what they did to you at the school, or if you even have recombinant DNA or not."

"I think she does." Said Angel. Since Angel predicted that Fang and I would have gills, I was pretty confident that she was right on this.

"All you need now is some training." I stopped short. I was going to be too occupied with this avalanche business to teach her.

"Can Nudge and teacher her?" Angel pleaded. I just couldn't resist those bambi eyes. They were just so darn cute!

"Well, maybe you can help." I told her. Angel came and hugged me tightly. For the next two hours, Angel and I tried to teach Crystal a few moves. Nothing fancy for her first lesson, just enough to keep her out of the Eraser's hands. Hopefully.

By 8:00 'o clock, everyone was popped and ready for a good night's sleep. Crystal and I shared the first bed, and Angel and Nudge had the other. I don't know what the guy's decided. Total decided to crash with the guys, since he thinks he's a guy too. Who knows, Total's just weird like that.

I would have been asleep in a few minutes, but I could hear Crystal sniffling next to me. I guess she needed someone to talk to.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. Crystal continued to stare at the ceiling, not looking at me. She finally responded.

"I just don't think I'm cut out for this." She admitted, "I'm just a regular girl from a small town, no training in martial arts, I don't know how to survive out here! I appreciate you guys taking me in like this, but I think you'd be better off without me."

"I don't mean to rain on your parade, but your not a regular girl anymore. The whitecoats chose you for whatever reason. I know their the most horrible people imaginable, but they must have a good reason for choosing you. Out off all the kids in this world, they chose us seven to have avian DNA implanted in us. I hate to admit this, but your probably more powerful than Angel. You could develop powers far more advanced than any of us could dream of!" She kind of thought about that.

"Look, we're all in this together, as it were. We're a family now, and families look out for each other and help one another in times like this. I think rest is the most important thing for you right now."

Wow, I think that was the best pep talk I've ever given to someone. No, please, hold your applause. Crystal smiled at me. I hadn't noticed before, but she had a beautiful smile.

"Thanks, Max. Your like the sister I never had." She soon fell asleep, and so did I.


	12. ERASERS!

OUTSIDE THE DOOR, three Erasers were going over the plan. The leader, who was the biggest, turned to his accomplices.

"Remember, the boss only wants the tall blonde one." He barked. "And if you so much as make a sound in there, or make one mistake, I'll have your heads! Now go!" The two Erasers nodded and slipped an all-access card into the door. Very slowly and quietly, they opened it. They took small steps towards the first bed on the right. This one had to be the one! They wouldn't get in trouble this time.

The first Eraser pulled a tissue and a bottle of **chlorophyll? **while the other grabbed a large sack. They stuffed the tissue in Max's face until the chlorophyll took effect. The first Eraser stuffed her in the sack and then they walked out the door.

* * *

**A/N - The reason the word above is bold is because I'm not sure if that's the right word or not. If anyone knows, let me know. Sorry its so short. There wasn't much to say here, and I couldn't add it to the previous chapter. It just didn't look right.**


	13. Mistaken Identity?

_**I WOKE UP the next morning feeling stiff and still tired. It almost felt like I was laying on a hard, concrete floor. As I stirred to consciousness, my senses took in my surroundings. The closed-in room, concrete floor (lucky guess), and that oh-too-familiar smell of antiseptic. I also smelled what I thought was heat. Like a fire, or one of Iggy's bombs. I jumped to my feet and searched for my flock, but they were no where to be found. Just then a whitecoat entered from the only door in the room. He was holding a clipboard and was looking at it as he entered. When he looked up at me, he looked confused, and also really, really mad. He turned back the way he came, slamming the door behind him. I walked over to see if I could hear anything.**_

_**"Experiment 1413?" The whitecoat said to someone. There was a short pause and I heard the shuffling of papers.**_

_**"Its supposed to be." The second whitecoat said, a girl by the voice. "Why, is there a problem?"**_

_**"That's Maximum Ride." The first said angrily. "Your stupid Erasers will pay for their mistakes! This was going to be our only chance! Why wasn't I informed before the surgery was done?! Now Max-" He paused a moment. "Maybe she'll do just fine as a substitute." After that I heard footsteps slowly fade into the distance. **_

_**My mind was racing now. What did they mean surgery? They actually wanted Crystal? They mistook me for her? Did they use Valium? I sure hope I didn't say anything stupid like the last time. I took a deep breath to clear my mind. First things first. I had to get out of here and find my flock. They were probably still sleeping at the hotel room if I know them. I had to get out of here, that was priority 1. **_

_**The rest of the flock is safe, Max. **_**For once, I thought, the Voice actually told me something useful.**

_**Someone's coming... now's your chance. **_**The Voice said, and I listened closely to the sound of the footsteps. It sounded like a normal person, and not an Eraser. As they opened the door, I punched him in the mouth as hard as I could. He fell flat on his back, and I quickly made my escape.**


	14. Where's Max?

A KNOCK ON THE door eventually caused Fang to wake up. He drowsily walked over towards the door and looked through the hole. It was some guy dressed in a red jumpsuit. Fang opened the door anyway.

"Are you friends of Professor Pots?" He asked. Fang nodded, wiping sleep from his eyes. This was not a good time to come knocking on people's doors. "Mr. Pots said he told you guys you needed to take an avalanche safety course this morning at ten. I just came to remind you." He offered his hand to shake, but the look on Fang's face said it all.

"Why not go over to the girl's room and tell Max? She's the one in charge here." The man in red just shrugged his shoulders.

"Nobody answered, so I figured they were all asleep yet. I'll see you later." Fang closed the door. Leave it to Max to give him a rude awakening on a vacation.

"Who's that?" Iggy mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Gazzy was still passed out next to him.

"Just the avalanche guy reminding us about the safety thing we have to do today." Fang replied before turned to go into the girl's room. He planned on a semi-rude awakening, too. Payback was always the best policy when it came to him and Max. But she wasn't expecting him to walk in with a bottle of water and pour it on her head.

He tiptoed over to the bed she was sleeping in. He almost hated to do this to her, since she looked so beautiful sleeping. He started to remove the cap from the bottle. "Whatever your planning on doing, Fang, don't." Came a muffled voice from the covers. It was Crystal.

"How'd you know it was me?" Crystal turned so she was facing Fang. She was obviously dead serious.

"I'm not an idiot. I may be a blonde, but I'm no idiot." Fang's brain now made the connection that Max wasn't in bed sleeping.

"Where's Max?" Crystal looked at the side of the bed where Max slept. Nudge and Angel were slowly waking up.

"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe she went ahead and got breakfast without us?" Fang shook his head.

"Max would have told someone before she left. Besides, Iggy would've made pancakes or something."

"Iggy cooks?" Crystal looked amazed at a blind kid's being able to cook better than herself. Now that was talent.

"Oh, yeah, Iggy's a great cook." Before he could say much more, Angel woke up and went to hug Fang. He did so, since he, like Max, loved Angel. He couldn't stop his mind was wondering what had happened to Max. He wanted to think the worst, but tried to focus on something simple. He felt Angel sneeze his hand. Fang forget he was standing next to a mind reader.

_Don't worry, Fang. I'm sure she's fine. She'll come back. Besides, I know she loves you, too._ Angel smiled and hugged him again, ignoring Fang's questionable expression.

"Come one, guys," Fang began, "we should probably get to that meeting." Fang started towards the door, then realized that Nudge was still asleep. he turned around and tried to wake her up.

"Nudge, its morning. Time to get up." She opened her eyes and looked around the room, obviously looking for Max.

"Where's Max?" Fang struggled desperately for the right words. He knew Nudge would see right through his lies.

"I don't know." Nudge looked worried, and Fang did his best to mask it. He hoped that the safety course would keep his mind off of Max. But as they sat there, it was clear to him that that wasn't going to happen.

"Now that all of you are here we can get started." The instructor looked at the flock once more. She was told there were seven now. "Weren't there seven of you yesterday?" She asked Fang.

"Max is probably out for her morning spin around the building." Fang said, "She'll be back soon. She's never gone too long." Fang knew deep down that something was wrong. He could hardly concentrate on what the instructor had to say. Like he really needed to, anyway. If any of them were caught in an avalanche, they could just fly out of the way!

"Now, the best thing to do if your caught in an avalanche is what?" The man asked. No one wanted to answer it. "How about you, Fang?" Fang just shrugged.

"I don't know, how about fly away?" The man was lost for words. But he was absolutely right.

"Yes, but in the slightest chance that you can't fly, you need to move as if you were swimming in the ocean. This will keep you close to the top of the snow and help rescuers to find you." Fang was now thinking about Max again. It really wasn't like her to be gone this long for no reason. Something was wrong. Without warning, he stood up, causing the flock and instructor to look at him.

"Something's come up. We need to go." Disregarding the puzzled look on the man's face, Fang knelt towards the flock and whispered, "We need to find Max."


	15. The Escape

AFTER I KNOCKED that guy into next week, I took off running down the hallway, not letting anyone get in my way. I somehow managed to avoid all Erasers, and dead ends. I found the entrance and dashed out. I was about to take off into an up and away when I noticed I was already looking down. I also felt cold beneath my feet and all around me. I soon realized why. I was actually on the ski slope! I looked behind me and realized the entire building I was in was made of concrete. Strange building material for a mountain, and completely unoriginal. One would think that people capable of designing a human/avian hybrid would use a more original building material than concrete.

Since I wanted to get the heck out of there, I bolted down the hill as fast as I could. I didn't have enough room to do an up and away, so for the moment I stuck with running. Let me tell you, its not easy running downhill with snow all around. When I went about ten more feet, I unfurled my wings and started to flap. All of sudden I heard a loud noise, then a searing pain in my left wing. I fell to the ground and fell a few feet until I ran into a tree. Crap. Those stupid Erasers shot me! I could hear commotion from the odd structure behind me.

"You fool! Give me that rifle!" I could tell by the voice that it was an Eraser. "You could have killed Max! We still need her alive, dirt bag! We performed the surgery on her last night. She has it implanted in her." The other Eraser looked embarrassed. I guess he wished he'd never taken a shot at me. Unfortunately, for me, he succeeded. My wing was dripping blood all over the white snow. I struggled down the hill as best I could, but it wasn't easy. The pain was getting worse and worse the more I tried to move. I was now about a quarter way down, and didn't think I could go anymore.

I honestly thought I would never see my flock again. But then, as always, I did. I saw them all standing outside the hotel. With my raptor vision, I could see that they were distressed, especially Fang. I tried shouting to them, but they couldn't hear me. There was a loud rumbling behind me. Wait, rumbling on a mountain?! I turned my head, hoping it wasn't what I thought it was. But I was so wrong.


	16. Avalanche Rescue

"ANY SIGN OF her, guys?" Fang asked desperately, trying not to sound too worried. Which was hard, since the girl of his dreams had all of a sudden disappeared with no warning, and he was left trying to be strong for the younger ones. It also didn't help that Angel could tell how freaked out he really was, and was constantly trying to comfort him. Not that he minded her caring for his feelings. But he knew that if he thought about Max long enough, he'd have a mental breakdown. Yeah, she could do that to a guy.

"We've looked everywhere, Fang." Said Iggy. "She's not in the hotel." Fang was about to go insane. Something was seriously wrong.

"Look! On the slope!" Crystal shouted and pointed. Fang almost fainted with relief when he saw Max standing there. Iggy frowned.

"What's that noise? It sounds like..." As the word came to him, a look of shock and horror filled his face. Fang noticed Iggy's expression, and turned back to the place where Max was standing. As soon as he did, the avalanche covered her.

"Oh... my..." Crystal couldn't say anymore and put her hands over her mouth. Fang was shaking with terror, and couldn't move.

"MAX!!!" He screamed into thin air. It ran smoothly off his mouth, even though his brain couldn't think straight. The rest of the flock stood right behind him, and looked just as petrified as he felt.

"What.... happened.... Fang?" Iggy asked, sounding scared. Fang tried to answer, but despite his efforts, nothing came out.

"Max couldn't take off in time." Was all Nudge could say, and it was barely a whisper. Fang couldn't take his eyes off the spot where she was standing. They were warned that anyone caught in one only had a 30% chance of survival. Angel came up and hugged him tightly, and he quickly patted her back.

"Come on!" That was all Fang needed to say. Within seconds they were standing right above where she was buried by over five feet of snow. Luckily she was holding on to a tree branch, so she might not have gone far. Fang wasted no time and started digging with his hands. He didn't care if there was no hope that she would live. He wasn't about to leave her that easily. He was pulled back by Crystal.

"She's gone, Fang." Said Crystal, "Face it, she's dead. Nobody could have survived that!" Fang noticed that she was about to cry.

"Max isn't like everyone else." He said, fiercely, then added, "I can't live without her."

He immediately turned back to his digging. Gasman, Nudge, and Angel soon chipped in. Iggy felt his way over to Crystal and held her hands, trying to comfort her.

"Angel, can you send her a message?" He asked, feeling desperate. Angel was already crying.

"I tried already... I couldn't feel her at all." That made Fang dig faster, even though his hands were turning blue from the cold. He felt himself going teary-eyed. He suddenly felt something underneath the snow. He dug around it to find part of a wing.

"She's here!" Fang's heart was racing with adrenaline, the only thing giving him the energy to search for Max. Crystal now came over and helped to pull her out of her icy grave. She was unconscious.

"Max! Max, wake up!" He started shaking her shoulders, which were incredibly strong and powerful. He screamed her name a few more times with no response. To see her lying motionless on the snow, her body cold from the freezing temperature, was enough to send him to tears. Even though Fang would probably never say it aloud, he loved Max with every cell in his body.

They could all hear the avalanche rescue team coming up fast. Iggy and Gazzy were shouting, trying to either get the rescue team's attention, or trying to revive Max. Fang was now was crying, and struggling not to show it in front of everyone. He'd been kneeling right by her head, with absolutely no response. Angel and Nudge were crying hard now, still saying 'Max, Max wake up! Don't die on us!'

Crystal came and took his hand when she saw him crying. He look up, tears falling down his face. She hugged him as if to say, 'Don't worry, it'll be okay.' Fang knew better than that.

He took one last look at her beautiful face, closed his eyes, and kissed her. Her lips were cold and blue, but he didn't care. Fang didn't even notice that Crystal was wide eyed with surprise. Fang felt a hand touch mine. It was gentle but also cold. His heart skipped a beat as he realized who it was.

"Max?" He asked. Her eyes slowly opened and, at seeing Fang, she smiled. Fang, in turn, smiled back at her. She tried to speak but he quieted her. Angel, now realizing that Max was alright, gave her a hug and started crying again. Fang didn't want to pull Angel away, but he also didn't want Max to get hurt more than she was.

Fang was completely overjoyed and relieved that Max was alive. Just thinking about her and watching her made him smile, which, in turn, made her smile back. He leaned in and kissed her again, this time grateful that he still had her in his life. She kissed him back with the same passion. Unfortunately for Fang, the avalanche broke the kiss short and loaded Max onto a helicopter, which was to transport her to a hospital. Fang stayed by her side the whole time.

As they finished loading up, Max touched Fang's arm again. "Thanks for what you did." She said, then closed her eyes. As much as he wanted to keep her eyes on his, Fang knew she needed rest. He watched as she slowly drifted into sleep, showing no signs of anxiety or discomfort. Fang wondered why she tried to be so strong all the time, even when the younger ones weren't around. He concluded that she wouldn't be Maximum Ride if she didn't.

Feeling like your world is falling around you takes a toll on a guy's nerves. Even if that guy happens to be a human-avian hybrid. So he sat back and laid his head against the hard metal of the helicopter, trying to calm himself.

The last thing Fang heard before drifting off to sleep was the sound of Iggy's voice saying, "And you were gonna just leave her there to die. What were you thinking, Crystal?"


	17. At the Hospital

I WOKE UP feeling like I had just been in an avalanche. Oh, wait, I think I was. Anyway, I forced myself to open my eyes and take in my surroundings. I started freaking out at the antiseptic smell, but then realized I was in a hospital. Gee, were my injuries that bad? I figured it was just a broken wing! I hadn't noticed Fang, Iggy, and Angel sitting next to my bed, along with Total curled up by my feet. They were all asleep. Fang looked so cute in his sleep, I noticed. Angel's eyes opened first. She smiled when she saw I was awake.

_Max, I knew you were alright! But we almost thought that you left us. _She sent me. I could have cried right then.

_I would never leave you guys. Never ever. _Angel smiled back. I was about to say something else but was distracted by Fang's loud snoring. It was hard not to laugh out loud. It was hilarious.

_Fang stayed by your side the whole time you were here._ Angel said with a smile. I blushed slightly and tried to change the subject.

_Where are Crystal and the others? _As I sent that to her, Iggy woke up. I guess he could hear me moving around in my bed because he nudged Fang awake.

_Nudge wanted to give Crystal her next lesson on martial arts. I know you were gonna do it, but Nudge really wanted to. Gazzy went with to watch._ I was going to scold her for letting Nudge take over, but Fang gave me a half-smile that sent my heart racing.

"You're awake." He said, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "How are you feeling?" I thought about that for a second.

"Well, how can I know how I'm feeling when I don't even know what happened?" I replied with a smile.

"You were shot in your left wing." Fang told me. "They were able to patch it up and get some X-rays, which we're still waiting on. Look's like you'll be walked for a few days. You managed to knock yourself unconscious when you hit that tree in the avalanche. Other than that, your fine."

Right then it all came back to me. The chlorophyll, Erasers, me being kidnapped, me escaping. And all the weird talk about me being a replacement for Crystal and having some kind of surgery done on me.

"Uh, guys, could you give Fang and I a minute alone?" Iggy smiled oddly in Fang's direction, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. "To TALK, Iggy. You sexist pig, you." He just shrugged and walked out of the room.

"I'm gonna get your mom and Ella." He said as he walked out the door, closing it behind him. I turned back to Fang. He could tell something was on my mind.

"Go ahead, tell all." So I did. I told him everything I could remember. When I had finished, Fang was silent. "So, let me get this straight. Crystal was the one supposed to be kidnapped, and she was the one who was supposed to have some weird, unknown surgery done to her that ended up happening to you instead. Is that right? Why?"

"That's the million dollar question right now. I wish I knew." I started thinking to myself, but came back to reality when I noticed Fang staring at me. "Why are you staring at me?" Fang just looked even deeper into my eyes.

"You really had me worried. I thought-" He paused, and I was really freaking out now. Fang being all emotional and admitting he was scared? "I didn't know what to think. I was worried sick. Just ask Angel!" I laughed a little at the remark.

"I know what you mean. She said you stayed by me the entire time." Fang blushed and turned away from me. It was hard to believe he was actually embarrassed. "I think that was really sweet of you. Just what a perfect boyfriend should do." He glanced up at me curiously, and I smiled. Fang leaned towards me and kissed me, which took me off guard. I sometimes hated myself for flying off in the past, but I forgot about all that when his lips touched mine.

And, just like that, my entire flock, plus Jeb, my mom, and Ella came into the room. I'm talking the whole enchilada, and they had just seen Fang and I kissing. We quickly pulled apart and tried to act like nothing happened, but they saw right through us. Dr. Martinez had a warm smile on her face, while Jeb looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Don't even get me started on my flock. But I will say that Crystal was pretty freaked out, as well as Gazzy.

Just another day in my abnormal life.


	18. Angel the Devious Planner

"FOR THE LAST TIME, nothing happened, and nothing was going to happen!" I tried telling Gazzy, but he wasn't buying it. Fang had tried as well, also unsuccessful.

"Okay, guys," My mom spoke up, "why don't you go wait in the lobby with Jeb? The doctors should be back any minute with the X-rays, then we're going back to the hotel." Reluctantly, they started for the door. Angel was holding Jeb's hand, much to her objection.

_I thought it was really sweet, Max. _Leave it up to Angel to find something positive in a bad situation. Fang left with them, but not before giving me a wink as he closed the door behind him, making me smile.

"Just as I thought." My mom said with a smile. Crap. She was looking. My smile quickly faded.

"How did you know? I was gonna tell you eventually." She just shook her head and smiled at me.

"I knew even before you did. Which, actually, wasn't hard to see. He obviously liked you, and you liked him, but didn't want to admit it to yourself." I thought back to when I visited her the second time. She had asked if there was anything going on between us. And then during the surgery, with me on Valium, admitting I loved Fang.

"But I was drugged up on Valium during the surgery when I said I loved him." I could tell she wasn't buying it.

"That was just you admitting it to yourself without any other distractions." I couldn't see how I could save myself now.

"I really do love him." I said, and she kissed my forehead. "Actually, Angel knew that Fang loved me before the both of us." She started laughing, which was my intention. Just then a doctor came into the room.

"Maximum Ride?" He asked, and my mom nodded. He reminded me of a younger version of Jeb. But way nicer. "There's something I have to ask you." He was holding an envelope with what looked like black sheets of paper. He put them on those screens they have in there, and I saw that they were my X-rays. There was a small square section on what looked like my spine, just below my neck. I heard my mom gasp out loud.

"What crazy thing's happened to me now?" I asked, a hint of sarcasm in my voice. He looked at me for a moment then turned back to the screens.

"Can you see that square on your spine?" I nodded weakly. "This is something we're not familiar with. Personally I've never seen such a thing. Have you always had this?"

"Yeah, because I just love having strange unknown objects in my arm. Of course I haven't!" I love doing that.

"We'll release you for the time being, but you may need to get that taken out once we learn more about it." At last, someone who's not paranoid about making me stay here. I had changed back into my regular clothes and we walked back to the flock. I looked at Fang and gave him a look that said 'I need to talk to you now'.

"What's wrong? Is it the kiss?" His eyes were full of concern. I guess he was still a little paranoid from the avalanche.

"No, which, by the way, was great." I smiled a bit, then started to tell what my doctor said.

"I wonder if that's why you have your voice. Maybe that chip transmits to your brain and makes you hear things." That seamed like a pretty good possibility.

"Could be. They want to check out the X-ray and try to figure out what it is. Hopefully its nothing serious." We had now arrived at the hotel, and were sitting around in the lobby.

"Look, Max!" Angel pointed to a sign by the door. It was an add for dance classes. Angel was practically jumping up and down in her seat.

"Yeah, what about it?" I tried, not sure what she wanted. She almost always had some kind of plan up her sleeve.

"I think we should take dance lessons!" I stared at Angel, still not sure if she was serious or not. I shot a glace at Fang, who's face told me he was with me ob this. "It'll be fun! We can all go with and learn how so that we at least have a little fun! I struggled for the right words. _Plus you and Fang get to slow dance together, which would be so romantic! _

_Angel, as fun as that sounds, _I thought, _We have more important things to do._ _Like figuring out what the Erasers implanted in my spine!_

_Please, Max? _She gave me the bambi eyes again. No, not the eyes. I turned around, refusing to look at her.

"I think dance lessons would be good for all of you." Said my mom. "Plus since your here for Professor Pots, I'm sure they'd give them to you for free." I saw that Nudge was begging me to let them take classes.

"Alright, fine. We'll take the classes. But only for a few days!" I was so going to regret this.


	19. Max said WHAT?

BEFORE I KNEW IT, we were letting Angel control our lives. Okay, so letting her talk everyone into taking dancing lessons isn't exactly controlling our lives, but we don't know how to dance! Your probably thinking, don't you at least know something that tells you what to do in the song? In answer to that, I ask another question: Do you think we have the time?

We were sitting around in this huge room, which was supposed to be where our dance lessons were held. The instructor hadn't shown up yet, so we were bored out of our skulls. Crystal was sitting at the end (there were seven chairs, remember)(left to right), then it was Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, Fang, then me.

"This is insane, Max." I heard Iggy mutter. "I'm blind! How can I know what to do if I can't see it?"

"Maybe he'll explain it a little differently so that you understand." I tried. I turned to Fang for help.

"You know what?" Fang asked, "If you at least try, maybe you'll get to dance with Crystal." Iggy cheered up then and actually smiled.

"Yeah, that would be great." Iggy was grinning like a fool, now. I wish he could have seen me rolling my eyes. Of course, I was still happy for him, especially since this was the first time Iggy had ever seriously crushed over a girl.

Finally a tall, scruffy looking guy walked into the room. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt that had MC Hammer on it, whoever that was.

"Hello, everyone," He said with a British accent, "My name is Johnny Thorpe, but you can just call me Johnny. I'll be your instructor for today." He stared a moment at Gazzy and Angel. "How old are you two?"

"Gazzy's six and I'm seven." Johnny hesitated a moment, trying to find the right words and not sound like an idiot.

"Um, the class is for kids and adults 13 and older. I'm sorry, but your going to have to leave." The three of them looked extremely disappointed.

"Can we just sit over there and watch?" Nudge begged. Johnny hesitated again. Was he like this all the time, I wondered.

"I'm really sorry, kids." They walked over towards the door, obviously bummed out. Well, Gazzy wasn't, but the girls were.

_Are you going to be okay, Angel? _I thought to her. She had looked like she was on the verge of crying.

_I'll be fine, Max. You guys just have fun, okay?_ She smiled and winked as they walked out of the room.

"Will they be okay, Max?" The instructor asked. I nodded and he continued. "We're gonna do a few songs just to get you guy's started. Don't worry, they are both extremely easy." He walked over to a table with speakers, a CD player, and other equipment, and pushed play. A song he called the cha cha slide started playing. He was right about it being easy. Of course, he had to show us a few of the moves that were mentioned, but they weren't bad. The next song was called the Cupid Shuffle, and was even easier. Believe it or not, Fang was actually getting into it. When the line _'do your dance, do your dance'_ came around, Fang would improvise and do a weird move from like the 70s. It got me laughing every single time. By the end, we were pumped and ready for more. Yeah, I actually liked it. If nothing else, it was worth it, if only seeing Fang dance the way he did.

"Now we're gonna do some slow dancing. This is pretty simple once you learn the basics." He started to move his feet back and forth, then slowly moved around the room, keeping his feet moving. Right then, I wished I was anywhere else but here. "The key is to keep your feet moving to the beat of the music. Once you do that, you can do all kinds of things like spins and dips. But for now, we're gonna stick with the basics. Max and Fang, you two are together, and so are Iggy and Crystal." I couldn't see it, but I knew that Iggy was thrilled at being paired with Crystal.

Johnny changed the CD and pushed play. It was a song I had heard many times before called I'll Be. It was a beautiful love song. Fang took my hand in his and we started dancing. I wished I was out battling Erasers or something; Dancing was not my thing.

"You okay?" I heard Fang ask. I realized I was completely ignoring him, and I felt like a fool. "You look almost scared, nervous."

"I'm okay." I lied, and I knew that Fang knew I was. Just then I picked out the line '_I'll be your crying shoulder, I'll be love's suicide'_. Fang looked me in the eyes, and everything else floated away.

"You know I'll always be your crying shoulder, Max. Always. I've also be the greatest fan of your life." I wish I could have stayed there dancing with him forever. I also wish I had a heads up on what was about to happen. Because if I had known, it never would have happened.

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**Okay, I really need you people to comment and review. If not then idk if anyone's even reading it!!! Am I making sense??? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	20. Fang's Reaction

"WHEN SHALL WE begin our testing?" Asked the Eraser. It was the same one who had helped kidnap Max by mistake. He would never live that down.

"Immediately," The man said. "The sooner we find out if our chip works the sooner we can execute our plan." That being said, he turned and walked away, leaving the few Erasers to begin their testing.

"This will be very interesting." Another Eraser chuckled. He pulled up a live screen showing Max and Fang dancing with each other. "We have a small problem, guys. She's taking what look like dancing lessons." The other Erasers just stared at him.

"So what if she's in the middle of dance class?" The one in charge said, "Big deal! Just get on with it! Better yet, have the chip focus on her feelings for him and reverse them. That should keep him off our trail." They pushed a few buttons and watched the screen with interest.

Max stopped dancing, and stood still. The chip was now sending tons of information to Max's brain and taking in information before passing it onto where the Eraser's were.

"Max, what's wrong?" Fang asked seriously. Max didn't hear him; The chip had made her temporarily unable to hear or speak. Without warning, Max collapsed on the floor, which caught everyone else's attention. "Max! Tell me what's wrong! Max?" He started shaking her shoulders.

The Erasers were laughing with interest. "This kid is too much! Just for kicks, let's add uncontrollable rage to the mix." With the push of more buttons, the other Erasers followed orders. Max now opened her eyes, which Fang noticed were glowing red.

"Max?!" He asked worriedly. In a flash, Max picked him up with one hand, catching Fang off guard, and sent him flying across the room. Fang slammed into the wall and slid to the floor, obviously confused.

"Who are you, you traitor?!" Max shouted at him. Fang noticed his ribs were hurting terribly, but blocked out the pain.

"Max, its me, Fang! Your boyfriend? Best friend since we were alive?! What's wrong with you?" Max's eyes turned even brighter.

"Why don't you figure out what's wrong with YOU first?" She walked over to Fang and punched him square in the face. She was about to go for another when she was knocked to the ground by Iggy. "Watch it, you little blind freak!" She shouted back and pushed Iggy away, who looked just as confused as Fang.

"Why are you doing this, Max?" Fang asked weekly, for he was hurt and very confused, "Why do this to me?" Max gave an evil smile.

"Why? Let me tell you why." She started talking in a voice Fang hadn't heard before, and paced back and forth. "First, I never really liked you. Actually, I despised you since we were on our own. I was simply toying with you, to see how much fun I could have watching you fall in love with me. It was all a game, Fang." Fang was now shaking his head.

"Your lying through your teeth." He said with a frown. "I know you better than that." Max just smiled again and stopped in front of him.

"No, you don't Fang. You've only just begun to see who I really am." At that moment, Fang gathered up all his emotions and channeled them to his muscles. He leaped to his feet and hit her so hard it knocked her unconscious. Max fell to the floor and everyone else walked up.

"What in the world just happened?" Asked Iggy. Aside him, Crystal was too frightened to speak, as was their instructor Johnny.

"I think a visit to the emergency room for unknown bursts of anger would qualify as an emergency, don't you think?" Iggy nodded. "Good." Johnny called the hospital and had them come over immediately. They arrived in no time, and as they were leaving the hotel, Iggy and Fang stayed back.

"Don't get yourself all worked up about what she said, okay? We'll worry about it later. Right now we need to make sure she's okay." Fang looked up at Iggy.

"But she's not okay. A normal Max wouldn't say that." Iggy could tell that Fang was hurt by Max's words. He may not be able to see, but he could sure sense stuff like this.

"How about you stay here and wait until we find out more. I'll have someone come and get you, okay?" Fang nodded, still bottling up his true feelings. Iggy turned and went back to Crystal, who had waited just outside the hotel for him. Fang went and crashed on the couch just a few steps away. There, he put his head in his hands, replayed the entire sequence of events, and cried.


	21. Max Faces Reality

I WOKE UP TO a white room, and immediately thought I was back in the hands of the whitecoats. Then I noticed a sleeping Iggy aside of me, and comprehended that I was, once again, in a hospital. For Pete's sake, why did I keep being put in hospitals?! What was stranger is that Iggy was the only one in the room. Not even Angel was around.

I noticed Iggy had a try in front of him, and it still had food on it. My stomach was growing with hunger, so I reached for the container of pudding.

"Touch my pudding and I will kill you myself." I jumped back at Iggy's threat. There was a certain tone in his voice that made me stop and think.

"What's wrong, Ig? You sound upset with me." I swear, if Iggy wasn't blind, he would have been giving me the death stare.

"Don't act all innocent. You know what you did." Iggy continued to stare in my direction. I was baffled.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!" Was I going completely insane or was my flock?

"Oh, so throwing both me and Fang across the room and telling Fang you were only pretending to like him is doing nothing?"

"What?!" Okay, this had to be a dream. I mean, Iggy was even against me! He's usually on my side on matters like this.

"You seriously don't remember dance lessons? One minute I'm dancing my heart out with Crystal, the next I'm fighting for my life when you went crazy!" I, for once, was speechless. "And your not supposed to know this, but you really hurt Fang."

"Physically or emotionally?" I was afraid to ask, but I had to know. I really wanted to know was why I did those things, nonetheless, remember them.

"Both, unfortunately." I winced at his words, "Fang has a broken rib from you slinging him against the wall. You said stuff like you never really liked him, and you just loved watching him go crazy over you. You ended with, 'it was all a game'. Oh, and you even punched him in the face." Once again, I was speechless.

"Oh my gosh," I whispered, "I don't remember saying ANY of those things." I was about to say something else but Iggy interrupted.

"Fang was trying to hide how hurt he really was. Turn's out, his injuries were worse than expected, and he's lost the will to live. You were his reason for living, Max." I couldn't find words to say. Fang not wanting to live? That's not like him. "Nudge and Gazzy don't know; Crystal's with them, and your mom knows. Angel probably knows, though. She could read Fang's mind, too."

"Iggy, you have to believe me," I started, "That wasn't me who did that!" Iggy wasn't believing me. "Ig, look, after the avalanche, they took X-rays, and they found a chip on my spine. The doctor said he was going to study it to figure out what it was. Maybe that's what happened! You see, the Eraser's kidnapped me by accident. They really wanted Crystal, so they could put the chip in her. I'm telling the truth!" Iggy didn't say anything for a long moment.

"I'm not the one you have to convince of that." He stood up and motioned for me to follow. He opened the door and let me head out first. "Find room 122," he told me. I found it without a problem. As I opened it, my eyes shot over to Fang. I saw him hooked up to about a dozen monitor's and wires. My mind flashed back to the last time he was this bad. I almost cried. Almost.

"Fang, you awake, buddy?" Iggy asked and approached the bed. Fang opened his eyes and he smiled. That is, until his gaze came upon me. Then he just frowned. It was a look that I took as, I'm-really-really-mad-at-you-right-now-and-I'm-not-going-to-get-over-it-easily. I noticed his eyes were puffy and his face was still wet with tears. Iggy hadn't been lying.

"Will you let me explain?" I asked, Fang didn't look the least bit interested in what I had to say.

"There's nothing to say; You said it all earlier." I could tell right away that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Fang, you have to believe me, that wasn't me! Okay, it was me, but I think it was that chip I was telling you about!" Fang's expression didn't change a bit. Normally Fang only had one facial expression, which was being expressionless. Now he looked broken hearted and alone. It killed me to think that I had actually done this to him, even if it wasn't intentional.

"You don't believe her?" Iggy asked. Fang maintained his expressionless appearance as he replied.

"And you do?" The coldness of his voice did me in. I couldn't stand it anymore. I turned and ran out the door, making a b-line for my room. When I reached it, I collapsed on the bed, replayed the entire conversation, and cried.


	22. What's the Plan, Fang?

**Okay, sorry for takng sooo long to update again! These stupid internet companies that lie about the internet being down... anyway, I'm putting up a few chapters to make up for it!**

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EVEN THOUGH HE couldn't see, Iggy gave his best scowl in Fang's direction. He waited a moment for him to notice.

_**"**_What's you problem?" He asked Iggy, who just continued to scowl. Iggy didn't know it, but he perfected his scowl a long time ago.

"Why don't you tell me what your problem is?" He replied, "I'm mad at her, too, but she didn't do or say those things on purpose! If you would have listened for just ten seconds, Fang!" Iggy was so mad he didn't even wait for Fang to answer. He fast-walked out the door and slammed it behind him, leaving Fang to think.

Iggy slowly made his way to Max's room, which was hard since he was blind. Thanks to the help of a nurse, he soon found himself opening her door. When he did he thought he heard crying.

"Max? Are you crying?" He felt his way towards Max and the chair he was sitting in earlier.

"No, of course not." Max tried. But Iggy could tell she had been; her voice was shaky and, when he felt her face, it was wet with tears.

"If it helps, I believe you. Fang will come around. He's just a little out of it since he's been in the hospital. Trust me." Iggy was proud of himself. He was getting better and better at motivating people.

"I'm smiling, Iggy. Thanks." Just then the door burst open, and Iggy heard several pairs of feet rush in.

"Well, miss Ride, you've got quite the chip implanted in you. We're going to have to run some tests on you, so would you kindly tell your friend here to leave."

"Whoa, hold up. You can't just waltz in here like you own the place and demand to do a few tests on me!" Max replied sternly. "You need to explain some things. And, by the sounds of it, brush up on your medical skills." The doctor frowned and his face turned pink. He was obviously trying not to slap her right then.

"First of all, I have the right to do whatever I want, because it's my hospital. Second, as long as I have probable cause that there's a life or death situation, which I do, I can do whatever is necessary. You see that chip in connected to your nervous system and seams to transmit signals to and from your brain. Unless you want me to call hospital security, I suggest you have your friend leave now."

"Okay, no problem." Max replied, partially out of fear. She tapped Iggy on the hand as she gave him a quick hug. "You know what to do." She said, and he squeezed her hand. Iggy nodded slightly and turned back towards the door. He knew that the doctor wasn't going to let anyone in that room.

As he made his way, once again, towards Fang's room, he suddenly decided to change plans. He knew what Max wanted him to do, but a better plan came to mind. Iggy burst through the door, startling Fang and the nurse who was checking his status.

"Fang, we've got a problem." If Iggy could see, he'd notice the surprised look on the nurse's face at seeing the same blind kid again.

"What's the crisis?" Fang asked, in a somewhat bored, yet no nonsense tone which he was extremely good at.

"Its Max. That doctor of hers says the chip is capable of sending signals to and from her brain. Now he's forcing her to let them do tests on her. He's not letting anyone near that room." Fang's brain was now on overload. While Iggy was gone, he had thought about what he said, and realized he was a complete jerk.

"I have a plan, if only I wasn't stuck in a hospital." He complained. The nurse looked at him brightly.

"Actually, all your vitals and everything are stable, so I see no reason to keep you here." That was enough for Fang. He started towards the door, but not before grabbing Iggy's hand and thanking the nurse.

"So what did Max tell you to do now?" Fang asked as they walked through the hallway.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Said Iggy, "But I've got an idea. I thought it best, since your second in command and all, to let you decided what we should do." Fang frowned and didn't say anything.

"That's a good idea, Iggy," He began, "But I need some time to think this through." Iggy was surprised at Fang's response, but tried not to show it. They soon found Dr. Martinez and the rest of the flock. Fang and Iggy told them all about what happened, which lead to mixed emotions. Once they were finished, and before anyone to say anything, Fang spoke up.

"I'm gonna try and come up with a plan, but I need some time. Let me sleep on it and I'll let you guys know tomorrow." No one was happy about that.

"But Fang," Crystal protested, "If you wait until tomorrow, who knows what they could be doing to her! We have to do something tonight, or better yet, now!" Fang just glared at her.

"Max is strong; she'll be able to hold out until I think of a good enough plan to get her out of it. If I could I'd get her out this second, but I have to think this through." With that, Fang strode towards the elevator leading to their rooms. All the while he stood there in the elevator, he couldn't help but think of the things he said to Max right before this all happened. He was stupid to think she would purposely say something like that. He knew Max loved him just as much as he loved her. She proved it by the way she looked at him, how she talked to him, and especially how they kissed.

The elevator dinged as it stopped on his floor. Fang slid the card into the handle to open the door, then collapsed on the bed. He was asleep within minutes.


	23. Let Love In

GAZZY WAS THE first to wake up the next morning. His eyes glanced over to the bed next to him, which was empty.

"Iggy?" he asked, 'Is Fang up already?" Iggy stirred awake, and sat up, rubbing his unseeing eyes. He was definitely not a morning person.

"Not that I know of, why?" Iggy was still half asleep and didn't fully comprehend the importance of what Gazzy was saying.

"Well, his bed's empty and the door is slightly open." Iggy was now wide awake, and rushed to put on jeans and a t-shirt. He knew Fang felt guilty about what he said to Max, but Iggy didn't think Fang would go this far. He found his way towards the door that connected their room to the girl's. He kept knocking and knocking until he felt the door open.

"Well good morning to you, too, Iggy." Crystal remarked tiredly. Iggy felt his palms heat up as he talked to her.

"Fang's not over with you, is he?" Crystal now looked worried. The tone in Iggy's voice meant that something was seriously wrong.

"No, he's not. You don't think he'd really..." She let her sentence hang. Iggy held her hand comfortingly, which he had been wanting to do for a long time.

"I don't know, but I think we better find him before he does anything stupid." Within a few minutes, they gathered up the younger ones and started searching the hotel for Fang. They checked every square inch of that hotel that Fang could possibly be. About an hour or so later, they all met up in front of the fish tank in the lobby.

"No luck?" Asked Crystal. Iggy just shook his head. "Would the Erasers have taken him?"

"I don't know." Iggy admitted. "First Max is forced into letting them test her, and now Fang is MIA. I can't handle the pressure!"

"Hold on a sec," said Crystal, and she put her hand to his lips. Even the younger ones heard the sound of an acoustic guitar. It was close by, too.

"Who could be playing guitar?" Asked Angel curiously. Iggy let Crystal lead him towards the door of the dance room where they were yesterday. She opened the door and motioned for Angel, Gazzy and Nudge to stay behind. Crystal's heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she saw who was playing. It was Fang. He was sitting alone on a stool, an acoustic guitar in hand.

"It's Fang." She whispered to Iggy, who looked relieved. They stood there in silence, listening to the song he was playing. Fang started on a few chords, then began to sing.

_You wait, wanting this world to let you in_

_And you stand there, a frozen light in dark and empty streets_

_And you smile, hiding behind a God-given face_

_And I know your soul much more, _

_Everything they ignore is all I need to see_

_You're the only one I ever believed in_

_The answer that could never be found_

_The moment you decided to let love in_

_And now I'm banging on the door of an Angel_

_The end of fear is where we begin_

_The moment we decided to let love in_

_I wish, wishing for you to find your way_

_And I hold on for all you need, its all we need to see_

_And I take my chances while you take your time with this game you play_

_But I can't control you, so you need to let me know, _

_You leaving, or are you gonna stay?_

_You're the only one I ever believed in_

_The answer that could never be found_

_The moment you decided to let love in_

_And now I'm banging on the door of an Angel_

_The end of fear is where we begin_

_The moment we decided to let love in_

_There's nothing we can do about_

_The things we have to do without_

_The only way to feel again is let love in_

_There's nothing we can do about_

_The things we have to live without_

_The only way to see again is let love in_

_You wait, wanting this world to let you in_

_You're the only one I ever believed in_

_The answer that could never be found_

_The moment you decided to let love in_

_And now I'm banging on the door of an Angel_

_The end of fear is where we begin_

_The moment we decided to let love in_

_The moment we decided to let love in_

_The moment we decided to let love in_

Fang played the final chord, and let it fade away slowly. He loved how something so simple could be so amazing. Fang was brought back to reality when he noticed Iggy and Crystal standing at the door.

"That... was... amazing." Was all Iggy could say. "I didn't know you played guitar! When did you find the time to learn? Wait, scratch that, we'll worry about that later. Right now the important question is: Do you have a plan?" Fang gave a little smile in Iggy's direction, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah, I do." Fang said, and Iggy relaxed some. Crystal picked up the guitar Fang was playing and studied it a while.

"Did you write that song? I've never heard it before." She set the guitar back on its stand, and Fang stood up.

"Yeah, I did, actually. I-" He started to say, but stopped himself. After a moment, he figured it was okay to tell them. "I wrote it for Max. You know, in case anything happens to me while we're trying to save her, or if something happens to her." Crystal smiled at Fang's loving gesture.

"Fang, nothings going to happen to us." Said Crystal, "Why do you always have to be so pessimistic, anyway?" Fang gave a wry smile.

"Why do you always have to be so pessimistic, anyway?" He repeated in a girly voice, trying to imitate her. Crystal just slapped him across the arm.

"Okay, before we get too carried away here, children," Said Iggy, "Can we please discuss whatever plan Fang has in mind?"

"Alright," Fang started, "here's what were gonna do..."


	24. Fighting Lessons Gone Wrong

"SO, ONE MORE TIME, why are we doing this again?" Iggy asked innocently as he flew a few feet closer to Fang. Crystal hand been holding his hand helping him to fly, which he didn't really need, but enjoyed it anyway.

"For the last time," Fang began angrily, "If the chip was implanted by Erasers, then they either know how it works, or control it directly. The only way to get Max back to her old self is to eliminate the problem, aka the chip. To do that we need to either A) Negotiate with the Erasers to tell us how to stop the chip, which is highly unlikely, or B) destroy their building ourselves, which will also cause the Avalanches to stop. This way we kill two birds with one stone, pun intended. Are we clear?" Neither Iggy or Crystal said a word.

When they were about 50 feet from the slope's peak, they rested in the shade of a tree. Iggy could tell by the needles and the bark that it was a pine tree (don't ask how he knew). Crystal stayed quiet, even more so than Fang, who soon noticed this.

"Why so quiet?" He asked her, but just shrugged his shoulders. She didn't want to sound like a fool in front of Iggy.

"I really don't think I'm ready for this. I mean, I'm not experienced enough! I'll just be a liability and hold you guys up. Maybe I should just stay here." Fang thought a moment.

"Let me teach you a few more ways to punch and you should be fine. If you have any trouble, Ig and I will cover for you. That had seamed to cheer her up. Fang then started to show her punches as promised, which she excelled at immediately. Things were going fine, he thought. She picked up fairly quickly.

"Okay, now try it on me." He told her. Crystal balled up her fist and gave him a super hard punch in the stomach. Fang moaned slightly and fell to the ground. Iggy had been trying not to laugh, but failed miserably.

"You are more than ready to kick some Eraser butt." He made out a short while later. His body was still sending many pain signals to his brain. Fang concluded that it was his fault for going easy on her in the first place.

"Sorry about that." She said with a smile. Fang stood back up and helped Iggy to his feet.

"Come on, let do this thing."


	25. Fight to the Death?

FANG, IGGY AND CRYSTAL quickly noticed that the building looked deserted. There were no signs of anything as they entered a side hallway.

"This is really creepy." Crystal whispered. They were as silent as bird kids could be as they walked towards a larger room ahead.

"You'll soon find out that most everything we deal with is creepy in some way." Said Fang bluntly. As they filed into the room, Fang noticed how there was nothing in it. It was a dead end. Was this some kind of joke? There were no doors connecting to anywhere that he could see. Before he could say anything to Iggy, a loud buzzer went of, and a nearly invisible door - one that seamed to blend into the wall around it - appeared in front of them. Over ten Erasers came running into the room, completely morphed and ready to kill.

"Iggy, head's up at twelve o'clock!" He warned. Crystal let out a gasp as the Erasers charged her. She tried to keep calm and remember the things everyone had told her. Fang kicked one Eraser square in the face before sending it into the wall. He glanced at Iggy who was doing pretty good, and Crystal, who was surrounded by three Erasers but managing well.

In a flash, Fang saw Crystal miss aim her punch, letting an Eraser grab her arms. The Eraser pined her arms behind her and, before Fang could help, the half wolf creep had lifted Crystal into the air and threw her as hard as he could towards the wall. She hit with a loud bang and fell to the floor unconscious. Fang rushed over to Iggy before he could notice.

"Please tell me you have some kind of bomb on your person so we can get out of here." Iggy punched the Eraser he was on and smiled evilly.

"Say no more!" Fang just hoped that Max wouldn't kill him for actually letting Iggy use a bomb. Iggy pulled one out and chunked it at the farthest corner of the room. "Duck and cover!" He yelled. Fang had grabbed Crystal and started running back the way they came. No sooner were they outside did the bomb go off, creating a loud boom and lots of shrapnel. Iggy extended his wings to fly off but just as he did a small piece of burning Eraser hit him and partially singed his wing

"Fang, I know you didn't let me use that bomb for no reason. What's the real reason?" Fang sighed as they were running towards the same tree they were before.

"Crystal was thrown against the wall. She's unconscious." Fang noticed how fast Iggy's face turned as pale as the snow.


	26. Crystal

**Last few chapters of the story! It'll end at 30.**

* * *

IGGY HELPED FANG prop Crystal up against the tree. Desperately he checked for a pulse. Her neck was cold, and even though his hands were very sensitive, there was no pulse.

"I'm sorry about this, Iggy." Fang said gently. "I thought she was ready. I didn't know it would end like this." He made eye contact with Iggy and noticed tears in his eyes.

"I never even got to tell her how I feel." He said, his voice breaking. Fang pulled him into a brotherly hug, and Iggy started to cry more. Not really balling, but lots of tears. Fang wasn't sure what to do. He thought that she had only been knocked unconscious, not killed. A small movement caught his eye. Fang put two fingers on Crystal's neck and, to his shock, a pulse was clearly there!

"She's not dead, Iggy. She's got a pulse!" As the words left his mouth, Crystal stirred awake. She rubbed the back of her neck and looked at the two figures standing in front of her. Iggy couldn't put into words what he was thinking and feeling.

"Fang? Iggy? Is that you?" She asked weekly. The next second She was pulled into a group hug, with Iggy struggling not to cry with happiness.

"Are you sure your okay?" Asked Fang seriously. He knew Iggy couldn't handle any more trauma than necessary.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Not even a scratch." She replied as she got to her feet. Fang tried to keep her sitting, but she slapped his hand. "It was strange," She began, "I can't describe it. You know how Iggy can feel colors and Angel can read minds? Well, I think I can make people think I'm dead." There was a long moment of silence. Iggy and Fang looked at each other, both in disbelief of her words.

"That seams pretty far fetched, Crystal." Fang finally said. "Could you do it again?" Crystal nodded and preceded to sit back down against the tree. The next moment her skin was cold to the touch, and there was no pulse. Fang and Iggy both checked for a pulse themselves and couldn't believe it. Crystal then revived herself and smiled at Fang.

"I can fake my own death!"


	27. Confessions of Love

FANG FLEW DOWN towards the ground and slammed his feet into the snowy terrain. He nearly crash landed, but didn't really care.

"I'll be right back, Ig." Fang called to someone behind him. Asking a favor from Jeb, the man that Max despised, wasn't exactly something Fang was anxious about, but he had no choice. If he wanted to convince the doctors to let Max go, he needed help from someone who would know what to say, and that was Jeb.

"Did Fang leave already?" Asked Iggy as he landed. Crystal was holding his hand, and Iggy wasn't about to let her go.

"Yeah, he ran inside before we were twenty feet away." Iggy just sighed as they made their way inside and sat down. "Why is Max so resentful of Jeb? I mean, he is her father, isn't he?"

"Its complicated," Said Iggy, "Jeb used to work in the same place that created us. I guess he took pity on us because he got us out of there and cared for us. The whole time, Max never knew who her real father was. A few years later he disappeared, and we were left to fend for ourselves. Two years went by and he never returned; We thought he was dead. One day Angel was kidnapped, and we all went to rescue her. That was when Max found out that Jeb was alive, and even longer still when he told her he was her real father." There was a moment of silence as Crystal took in everything Iggy said. Finally she just nodded.

"I guess that would make anyone resentful." There was an awkward silence between them. Iggy finally spoke up.

"So, your new power. Its really cool." He said nervously. Crystal tried to remember the details of her new ability.

"At first, I thought I was dead. I didn't realize what had happened. But I could still hear. I heard you and Fang fighting off Erasers. I remember Fang saying something like 'please tell me you have a bomb on you'. Then I felt Fang pick me up, but I couldn't move my muscles. I guess the Erasers, when they threw me against the wall, it did something to my brain and that's how I got my power."

"Its definitely a possibility." Said Iggy. Crystal was wondering whether to say more or to stop talking.

"I heard that Fang thought I was dead, and that's when I it clicked in my head that I was alive, but you guys thought I was dead. And I thought I heard you crying." Iggy looked at her seriously.

"I was really worried about you. Did you hear anything else Fang and I said?" Crystal touched his hand.

"What did you mean when you said 'I never even got to tell her how I feel'?" She saw Iggy blush bright red, and turn away. She also felt how his hands heated up, too. Iggy took a deep breath and, to the best of his knowledge, looked her in the eye.

"I love you, Crystal." He admitted, "I have since I first heard your voice back at your high school." Now Crystal was the one to blush bright red, but she was glad Iggy couldn't see her. Then she gave a warm, light smile.

"Do you know why I'm smiling right now?" She asked lightheartedly. Iggy looked baffled and ashamed at the same time.

"Because I'm being childish and should get over teenage hormones?" Crystal just squeezed his hand more.

"No, because I love you too, Iggy." Iggy was speechless, but smiling. Crystal used her free hand to put his against her face to show that she was smiling, too.

Without any warning, she leaned his and kissed him. Iggy's unseeing eyes went wide, but didn't break up the kiss. Instead, he put his hand behind her neck and kissed her more deeply. Inside, Iggy was overjoyed. He never thought she might actually love him back. What he didn't know was that Crystal had been wondering the same things all along.


	28. The Flock Renunited

**I'm on an upload spree... putting up the rest of the story tonight!!! Please, please PLEEEASE comment and review when your done reading! I'm begging you!**

FANG WAS GETTING impatient. Sitting in the waiting room while Jeb talked to the doctors was enough to give him an aneurysm. While sitting there, he tried to keep his thoughts under control, since he was in the chair next to Angel. He tried thinking of everything but Max. But somehow, they all fount their way back to her. Especially the scene where he told her off.

Max. Fang had been such an idiot to think that she would say things like that on purpose. He knew her better than that. He probably just blew it with her for good. She'd never want to talk to him again, or even look at him. It took him so long for her to realize that she had feelings for him. Yup, he blew it for good.

His thoughts were interrupted by a small hand belonging to Angel. Crap. She had been eavesdropping again.

_It'll be okay, Fang. Max will forgive you and everything will work out._ Fang looked at her sternly.

"Angel, how many times have Max and I told you that its rude to listen to people's private-" Fang noticed Jeb coming back, and Max right behind him. He leapt to his feet and fast walked to Max. "Max, I'm so sorry about what I said. I didn't know."

"No, I'm the one who's sorry. I never should have said those things in the first place, Fang. You don't have to apologize."

"But I do. I should have believed you the first time. You never lie to your flock, and more importantly," he said with a smile, " to your boyfriend."

"Oh, just because your my boyfriend means that I can never lie to your face? I don't remember hearing that before." There was slight anger in her voice, but a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah, its in the boyfriend/girlfriend handbook. You should read it sometime. It might come in handy for you."

"Are you saying that I'm not a good girlfriend?" Max asked, trying hard not to burst out laughing.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Your probably the worst of them all!" Fang held out his arms to show her.

"Okay, How many times have I saved your butt, Mr.? Remember when Ari kicked your butt on the beach? Who was it that saved you?"

"That wasn't you, that was the doctors and nurses." Max was about to come back with another witty response when Angel popped into their heads.

_Will you two just kiss and make up already?_ Fang and Max looked at each other, wondering if they each heard it. Then Fang smiled, the kind that he knew sent Max's heart racing.

"Well, it sounds like a good idea to me." He said playfully. The next moment he had pulled Max closer and carefully placed his hand on her neck.

They kissed for a long time, not caring about anyone around them. Finally they broke apart, and Fang saw how Max smiled at him, which for once sent his own heart racing. He gave his girlfriend a huge and long hug.

"I'll never let you go, Max." He whispered to her, "Never ever again."

* * *


	29. One Big Happy Family

ITS HARD TO EXPLAIN what its like to be with the people you love when you've been gone for a long period of time. I guess its kind of like one of your family members going on vacation somewhere and being gone for a month. When they come back, you have to fill them in of a month's worth of things that happened, and you have to do it in less than ten minutes. That's the basic scenario right now.

Iggy and Fang were talking about how they were kicking Eraser butt and at the same time saving an unconscious Crystal. While they were talking, the rest of us were sitting around on our hotel beds eating box after box of pizza.

"But I wasn't really unconscious." Said Crystal, "Well, I guess I was, but I could still hear their voices and make out words. It turns out that's my ability." I stared at her open mouthed. Then she demonstrated it, and I was awestruck.

"Man, why to the girls have to get such cool powers?" Gazzy complained, taking a bite of sausage pizza. I just ruffled his hair.

"You shouldn't be complaining, after all, you and Iggy seam to be the worlds sneakiest bomb makers."

"Speaking of bombs..." Crystal said and turned towards Iggy, who had been sitting next to her.

"Iggy?" I asked seriously. Iggy knew we were all staring at him. Fang tried to look innocent, which, let's face it, is impossible for him. "You didn't! Please tell me you didn't! And after the incident at the cabin nonetheless?" Iggy just shrugged.

"For the record, I only did it because Fang told me to." Now my glare was directed towards Fang, which he could obviously see.

"It was a tight spot, Max. I needed Iggy to blow up the Erasers so that we could get Crystal out of there." I put a hand to my forehead and pretended to be really angry.

"No more pizza for you, Fang!" I said and pulled the half full box away from him. He tried grabbing it but I tossed it towards Gazzy and Nudge.

"Maybe I should have left you in the hospital." Fang remarked. I just ignored him. It was better to do that then argue.

"Why did you have to tell on me?" Asked Iggy, and gave a fake scowl in Crystal's direction.

"Sorry, Iggy. I had forgotten she banned you from bomb making." She said, and they kissed. It will take me a long time to get used to them. Not that I'm not happy for Iggy, its just strange, you know? Well, I guess you don't, since I'm pretty sure none of you who are actually reading this are human avian hybrids.

"PDA!!! PDA!!!" Gazzy called out, covering his eyes. Crystal glared at him. By the look on her face, she wasn't just playing around.

"What does that mean, PDA?" Angel asked me. I knew I had heard it somewhere before, but couldn't remember.

"I don't remember." Crystal decided to let Gazzy get away with his outburst. She turned to me and she looked like she had something to say.

"You want to say something?" I asked, basically giving her permission to go ahead and talk.

"I just wanted to tell you all that I had an amazing time these past few days. You know why? Because you guys - all six of you - are extraordinary. From your love for each other as a family, to how you all have a common goal in mind, not to mention the wings! Sure, I may have thought you were really cool when I was a blog reader, but now I see that your all so much more than that." She turned to each one of us several times.

"When I first found out I had wings, what the whitecoats had done to me, and that my parents were gone, I was literally in shock. I thought I would never be the same old Crystal again, and that my life was over. But the way you guys took me in and how you treated me, I realized I was wrong. My life isn't over; its just the beginning of a better one. And no matter what, I'm really glad I was able to spend time with your family."

That was probably one of the most meaningful speeches I have ever heard anyone give. I was glad of what I was about to say.

"You know, I'm glad to hear you say that, Crystal." I started, "Because we want you to be a permanent part of our family." I smiled, and Crystal's mouth dropped. The younger ones did too, because I hadn't said anything to them. I only talked to Fang and Iggy about it, who was more excited than Fang (for obvious reasons).

"Are you kidding me?" She asked, and she turned to Iggy, who was smiling even huger than me.

"Yes, Crystal." Iggy said, "We want you to be part of the flock!" If she wanted to, she probably would have been screaming in joy right about now.

"Thank you guys! Thank you a million times!" She came and hugged my tightly. This time, I didn't cut it short. I let her hug me all she wanted. It was like having another sister my own age, which was a great feeling.


	30. The Finale

NOW THERE WERE seven of us human-avian hybrids, and we were all okay with that. Well, we weren't okay with the fact that people kept creating us, but you get my point.

"Hey, Iggy," Said Fang, "Doesn't Crystal need to take the initiation test first?" Iggy put his fingers to his chin thinking hard.

"Yeah, I think she does. How could we ever forget that?" I could tell they were up to something, but I couldn't figure out what.

"Guys, we don't have an initiation test." I tried, but Fang gave me a look that said 'just play along', so I did. "Oh, right, the one we came up with the other day! I remember now." Quietly I sent to Angel 'please tell me what Fang has in mind' and watched her face. A few seconds later, I saw her smiling.

_Fang wants to start a tickle fight. _Before I could turn back to say something to him, I found myself being pinned to the bed Fang himself, who was now sitting on me.

"Get her!" he yelled to the Iggy, who immediately started to pin my arms and legs down. Then Fang started to tickle me. Now, I'm really ticklish right below my wings, and Fang knew this. Crystal was helping Nudge to tickle my feet, and Angel was just watching. I was gasping for breath between my laughing fits.

"You... are... so... dead... Fang!" I said between my laughing fits and trying to get air to my lungs.

"Let's see you try!" He teased as he started tickling my sides. In a flash I gathered as much strength as I could, and launched Fang off of me. I proceeded to pin his arms behind his back with one hand while I tried tickling his right side. Fang doesn't really laugh when tickled, if you were wondering, he tries to talk through the torture so that he doesn't have to laugh.

"Max! Max, quit it! Come on, I'm being serious!" Of course I wasn't about to stop. I was determined to get Fang laughing.

"Iggy, grab his feet! I need some backup!" I yelled. Iggy did as he was told, Fang still talking. Gazzy helped Iggy tickle Fang's feet, and I let Crystal take over tickling his sides. I knew that Fang was extremely ticklish on the back of his neck, so that's where I tried. I would have also tried just below his wings, but my other hand was busy keeping his arms still. The constant tickling from all of us, plus me tickling his neck, was enough to finally cause Fang to stop talking and to laugh and squirm around.

I'm not sure how long this went on. It could have been a few minutes, or an hour. I don't really remember, but eventually all of us were nearly tickled to death. I do remember falling off the bed and being attacked again. I also remember that when we were finally tickled out, a knock came at the door. It was Jeb and Dr. Martinez.

"I'm glad everyone is okay now." She exclaimed as she hugged me. Let me give you some good knowledge for the future: moms give the best hugs.

"We're even better now that Crystal is a permanent part of the flock." I said, and she looked ecstatic. She turned to Crystal, who just smiled happily. She waved her over to give her a hug. As they hugged, I noticed the contented look on Crystal, which made me even happier. To know that I made her feel welcome and loved, well, that's something I would always cherish.

Okay, seriously, when have I ever gone all poetic on you guys before? Sheesh, its like someone's putting words in my mouth.

"I'm happy for you, Crystal." Jeb said. I could see from his face that he was half-expecting Crystal to not be as harsh on him as I had.

"Thanks." She said, slightly smiling. I couldn't help but noticed the now disappointed look on Jeb's face.

"I thought that might happen, so I took the initiative of turning in a few of my fellow coworkers there at the school. That way I could give you back some of your old things." He reached behind him and handed her a backpack which looked like the one she had at her high school. It was a light blue, and pretty dirty, but Crystal didn't seam to care. Soon after Jeb and Dr. Martinez left.

She sat down on the bed and rummaged through it. She pulled out a few items once in a while. One was an old stuffed dog that reminded me of a husky or malamute. Angel though it was a spitting image of Akila.

"Do you want it?" Crystal asked her, and Angel smiled hugely. "You can have it if you want. It was an old toy of mine from when I was little." I was quietly hoping that Crystal wouldn't have offered, but that didn't happen.

The next thing she pulled out was a used sketchbook. But Crystal held it back, refusing to let us see it.

"It has pictures I don't know if you guys would like to see." She said, sounding a little embarrassed.

"I promise we won't make fun of you." I told her. "What did you draw? Animals? household items? People?"

"You might say their people." She said nervously. "I did draw some animals, but the ones I don't want you to see..."

"I already promised we weren't going to make fun of you. Didn't we, guys?" I got varying levels of enthusiasm.

"I believe you, Max, its just embarrassing because I drew you guys! I was a huge fan of you guys and so I drew what I thought you looked like." Well, of course, that made us want to see the sketchbook even more. She finally handed it over, and I opened the cover.

"Wow, that's really good, but its not me." Nudge said, a little disappointed. Gazzy's was slightly better. Angel's picture was as cute as can be anyway, even if it wasn't her. Fang's looked pretty good, as did Iggy's.

"Fang, the hair is so you! Just look at it!" I made him look at the picture again. Fang stayed quiet.

"No, its too short. Mine's longer and darker." I rolled my eyes. It was pretty darn close. I thought Iggy's picture looked like he was a cartoon character or something like that.

The last thing Crystal pulled out of the backpack was a photo album. We decided to let her look at it first. She flipped through the pages one by one, and when she got to a certain picture, she just broke down and started crying hard. Iggy did his best to comfort her with a hug while she cried on his shoulder. When she was finally calm enough, I decided to ask to her about the picture.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" I asked calmly. Crystal took a deep breath before saying anything.

"Its a picture of my brother." She said as she handed me the photo album. She had the page marked with her finger, so it opened up to the page. What I saw was indeed a picture of her brother and herself. But he was in a wheelchair, and looked like he had something mentally wrong. I don't mean that in a bad way, just saying it looked like it.

"What's your brother's name?" I asked her. Crystal looked me in the eye, and I could see the pain in her face.

"Jasper," She replied, tears still in her eyes, "He was only two when the doctors told us he had Autism. He would be 12 now." She said, and started crying again. I shot a glance at Fang, who had the same crazy thought I did.

"Was your brother living with you and your parents?" Fang asked, and Crystal nodded. Fang and I both gave each other the same look. "Do you still have those papers?" I searched around the room and eventually found them. They were now a crumbled up mess, but hopefully still legible. We scanned the jumble of info near Crystal's information, half-hoping for the same result. We both found it at the same time. We looked at Crystal, astonished ourselves.

"Crystal, your brother is in the hands of the whitecoats. According to these papers, he's been grafted with avian DNA. Just like you and me and the rest of the flock."

_Well done, Max. Your getting closer to saving the world. _Great. Let's add more drama to this night.

_Well, Voice, what am I supposed to do now? _I wasn't really expecting a response, but, because the Voice is so sneaky, I got one anyway.

_Your smart enough to know what to do now. _Like I said, let's add some more drama. But, the Voice had actually told me what to do. I turned to Fang. "I think we've just gotten our next assignment."

* * *

**The end! So? How did you like it? I'm thinking about a sequel *hint hint*. But probably not for a while, since I'm way busy with school and all. Please click the review button!!!**


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